Retail shelf space is a coveted commodity among manufacturers. Because the retailer must set aside shelf space on which to display a manufacturer's products, there is fierce competition for shelf space among various manufacturers of competing products. Furthermore, with the proliferation of generic "house-brands," a manufacturer must also compete for shelf space with the retailer's own competing product. For example, retailers often display several competing products, including national brands as well as house-brands, next to each other.
In the vitamin industry, manufacturers typically offer several different vitamin products aimed at meeting the special needs of different segments of the population. Various vitamin products tailored to meet the nutritional requirements of the elderly, children, men, women, and other sub-segments of the population are offered by manufacturers of the national brands as well as by the retailers themselves. Typically, a retailer displays vitamin products by their similarity. For example, a retailer offering vitamins for the elderly arranges the national brands as well as its own next to each other. The end result of displaying competing products next to each other is brand dilution. A customer is not made aware that one brand, either national or generic, offers a range of products suitable for the entire family from grandparents to infants.
One way of displaying all of the different products of one manufacturer is to place them side by side on a shelf. However, merely placing products side by side on a shelf does not prevent product commingling; the retailer or a customer can still intermix the products at will. Because customers routinely pick up products and return them to the shelves, it is not an uncommon sight to see disorganized shelves holding numerous products, sizes and brands commingled with each other. Accordingly, there is a need for dispensers which can organize a shelf and display products in an orderly manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,697 issued to Berman discloses a modular dispensing display rack in which an assembly of such racks can be made by inserting threaded bolts through the rack and screwing a nut on the bolt. A major disadvantage of Berman is that a different length bolt is required for the addition of every additional display rack. A retailer would thus need to keep on hand bolts of differing lengths. There is thus a need for dispensers which can be interlocked without using specially sized bolts and nuts.
Gravity feed bottle dispensers in which the bottles travel down an inclined ramp are known. In a typical gravity feed bottle dispenser, bottles are loaded into the dispenser through an opening at the top. The bottles then roll down several inclined ramps and are finally dispensed at the end of the final inclined ramp. Because there are typically two or more inclined ramps, the bottles must change direction by 180 degrees as they roll down the ramps. A major problem with these dispensers is that bottles jam in the inclined passages. Bottles jam in the inclined passages because the bottles's freedom for up and down motion as they travel down the inclined ramp is not restricted. Accordingly, there is a need for a gravity feed bottle dispenser that restricts a bottle's up and down motion while traveling down an inclined ramp.
Jamming is particularly problematic at the juncture where the bottle is required to turn by 180 degrees in moving from one ramp to another ramp. An attempt to ameliorate this problem was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,286,846 issued to Brandes. Brandes discloses a generally triangular turnstile at the juncture between an upper and a lower ramp. While adding a turnstile may reduce the likelihood of jamming at the juncture between an upper and a lower ramp, the turnstile does nothing to prevent jamming in the inclined passages. Furthermore, the incorporation of a movable turnstile at each and every juncture makes the manufacture of a dispenser more difficult and expensive. There is a long felt need in the art for a gravity feed bottle dispenser that greatly reduces the likelihood of jamming, particularly at the juncture between an upper and a lower ramp.
The shelf size in most retail establishments is standard, that is, the height and depth of shelves are fixed. Any dispensers used by the retailer must fit within the boundaries established by the shelf height and depth. When a retailer wishes to use a gravity feed dispenser on shelves, the dispenser cannot be too tall or too deep, otherwise the dispenser will not fit on the shelves. The practical limitation of shelf height and depth is that in a gravity feed bottle dispenser, the angle of the ramp must be large enough to allow the bottles to roll or slide down the ramp but be small enough to allow for the efficient use of the given space (i.e. more bottles per given area).
When the product in the bottle is a solid, a powder or a gelatin capsule, the bottle is usually only partially filled. Because the bottle is only partially filled, the product settles in the bottle and a greater angle is required to ensure that the bottle will travel down the inclined ramp. Accordingly there is a need for a bottle dispenser that can dispense bottles which are either fully filled or partially filled with a solid, a powder or a gelatin capsule. In addition, such a bottle dispenser must fit within the confines of the standard size shelves found in most retail establishments.